by Dia Cole
His eyes rounded before he averted his gaze. All the tension seeped from his body. His head bowed in submission. “You are.”
“Right answer.” My laugh came out as a monstrous roar as I tossed him into the center of the pool.
He landed with a splash so high, it nearly took out one of the lounge chairs.
Thrilled to have gotten the better of him, I shifted back into human form and swam to his side. “So are we done comparing dicks or whatever we’re doing?”
“Yeah,” Gabriel said, wading toward the pool steps.
“Hey.” I reached for his arm, but he pulled away. Hurt pulsed through our bond.
In that moment, I realized I’d messed up big-time. Gabriel might be a Lykos, but he was also male. No guy enjoyed having his ego stomped all over. Crap. How do I make this right?
“I’ll wait for you by the door,” he said through clenched teeth.
Putting some speed into my kicks, I met him by the steps. “Don’t go.”
He spun around. “Why? It’s clear you don’t need me.” He cleared his throat. “In the pool.”
Ah. My fierce warrior thought I didn’t need him. “But I do need you. In here,” I pointed at my heart, “and in here.” I grabbed his hand and pressed it against my core.
It seemed as if he would resist me, but then a flash of heat jettisoned through our bond. His gaze warmed, and he cupped his hand between my legs.
I let out a ragged moan as he parted my lips and slid a finger inside.
He found my G-spot with expert precision. “You do need me, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I gasped as he inserted a second finger. “You’ll always be in charge when it comes to this.” I grabbed his arm to steady myself.
He smiled as if I’d finally punched in the correct passcode. Then he worked his thumb over my clit. Once. Twice. The third time I came so hard, I lost my grip on him and slipped under the water.
Gabriel grabbed me before I could sink too far. In a lightning fast motion, he picked me up, set me on the top step of the pool, lifted my hips out of the water, and buried his face between my thighs.
Wow. The combination of the icy water and his molten hot mouth sent me into orbit. Whereas Liam went down on me with a hesitant sweetness and Mason with masterful expertise, Gabriel pleasured me with a ferocity that turned the act into something primal and all consuming. I screamed my throat raw as he devoured my pussy, licking, sucking, and stroking me into an endless chain of orgasms that blinded me with pleasure.
While I pleaded for rest, Gabriel sucked down my final orgasm with a satisfied smile. “There’ll be no rest,” he promised.
So blissed-out, I was barely aware of him turning me to face the pool ledge. I was half-in and half-out of the water on my hands and knees. The bump of his thick cock against my ass was all the warning I got before he kicked open my thighs and slid deeply into my core.
The erotic invasion had me seeing stars.
He didn’t hold back, taking me harder and faster than he’d ever had. He gripped my hips and pistoned into me. His lust seared through our bond, inflaming my passion.
I rocked against him, demanding more, needing everything he could give me. My nipples scraped against the plaster step with each slam of his hips. More. I need more.
Water splashed around us, wetting the pool deck.
“Wider,” he ordered, spreading my legs even farther with his muscular thighs.
I could only lean forward, bracing myself against the ledge of the pool.
His next thrust hit so deep, my eyes rolled back. “Oh, God!”
“Only I can give you this,” he growled against my ear. “Only I can fuck you the way you need to be fucked, princess.” There was a vicious desperation to his mating. He pinned me in place with his huge body, owning me, possessing me. Through our bond I could feel how much he needed me to submit to him, here and now.
“Yes, Gabriel,” I cried, giving myself over to him. I tilted my neck to the side, exposing my throat. In this position, with his cock buried deep in my center and his teeth rasping against the side of my throat, I was completely at his mercy. Hybrid form or not, I was so vulnerable right now, he could end me.
He crooned his approval into my ear. Then he slid his hand between my legs and rubbed my clit.
I hurled over the edge of another orgasm.
With a roar of animalistic satisfaction, he slammed into me once more and came.
Quivering at the blast of wet heat filling me, I sagged back against Gabriel’s chest. “Thank you,” I gasped. That was exactly what I needed.
“Yes, thank you for the show,” added Liam.
I jerked my head up and found the big guy standing with Mason by the door.
Liam strode over to the edge of the pool. “Can I get in on the action?”
“No!” Gabriel snarled.
“I could use a dip in there too,” Mason added, his gaze on me not the water.
“Why are you dickwads here?” Gabriel groused, slipping out of my body.
Liam’s sexy grin faded “Nathan woke. He’s asking for Havana.”
“His mate,” Mason added quietly.
Oh, crap.
Gabriel scowled. “That’s bullshit. Havana’s not his mate.”
Liam shrugged. “He’s insistent she is.”
Gabriel cursed. “Why the hell would he think that?”
My stomach sank to the bottom of the pool. I looked over at Mason.
The handsome doctor gave me a slight nod of encouragement. “Best to get it out in the open, love.”
I swallowed hard and cleared my throat. “Because I claimed Nathan.”
Liam and Gabriel stared at me with mirroring expressions of stunned horror on their handsome faces.
The moment of reckoning had come.
13
Liam
I must’ve misheard Havana. She didn’t just say she’d claimed Nathan, did she? As always, I looked to Gabe for answers.
Based on my friend’s clenched jaw, he’d heard the same thing.
“I had to claim him.” Havana licked her lips nervously, her gaze bouncing from my face to Gabe’s. “If I hadn’t, he would've died.”
“And that would've been bad, why?”
Havana spun around to glare at Gabe. “He has a daughter.”
“That we would’ve cared for,” I said, softly. I planned to help look after all the babes we’d rescued, human and Lykos.
“Mira needs her father.” Havana let out a sound of frustration. “You have to understand that claiming him was the only way to save his life.”
Gabe grimaced. “If Nathan was as close to death as you say, you risked all our lives in claiming him.”
“It was a calculated risk,” Doc interjected.
Havana gave him a thankful look. “Mason thought I was strong enough to keep him alive.”
Gabe shifted his gaze to Doc. “You encouraged her to claim the Alpha?”
The guilty look on Doc’s face was damning.
Gabe took a step toward the doctor. “You gambled with our lives and then kept the truth from us?”
Motherfucker. A rumbling growl shook my chest. I glared down at the blond Omega.
Doc put his hands up and took a step back. “Don’t come after me, mates. Havana begged me not to tell you.”
“Because I was afraid of this reaction.” Havana’s gorgeous breasts swung from side to side as she stepped out of the pool.
As I tracked the water dripping down her mesmerizing curves, I suddenly found it hard to focus.
“Stop thinking with your cock, brother,” Gabe mentally chided. “She claimed Nathan just as I feared. Can’t you feel his bond to her?”
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts. I turned inward, probing the invisible connection that bound Gabe, Doc, and me to Havana. Among our bonds, there was a new link, thicker, and undeniably stronger. A knife blade of anxiety stabbed into me. “What does this mean for us?” I meant to send that thought to Gabe alone, but ended up blurting it ou
t instead.
“Nothing. It means nothing,” Havana answered in a soothing voice. “We'll just have one more plate at the table. Nothing has to change.” She padded over to me and put her arms around my waist. Her nipples were stiff like berries and my attention turned to where they were pressing against my bare skin.
“The fuck it won’t,” Gabe shouted as he exploded out of the water. “You can’t just add an Alpha male to our bond and expect nothing to change.” His expression was thunderous, but I’d known him too long to mistake that look for anger. He was scared. The greatest warrior I’d ever known was terrified he’d lose his female.
If he’s worried, maybe I should be worried. My chest tightened as I looked down at our mate.
How could I compare to Nathan Steele? He was an Alpha male, the former Consort of the Alpha of Winterhaven, and her current ambassador. Before that, he’d been on the high council like his father before him. I’m just Liam Murphy. Forsaken by my mother who handed me over to Tasha when I was a child like an unwanted piece of furniture. Over the years, I’d worked hard to become the strongest and deadliest of the Winterhaven Enforcers, second only to Gabe. But I wasn’t an Enforcer anymore. I’m nothing.
Havana tightened her arms around my waist. “You’re not nothing, you’re my mate. And your name is Liam James now.”
Uneasiness kept me from returning her smile. Havana was the center of my world. Losing her would end me.
“Gabriel is correct,” Doc interjected, a resigned look on his face. “Alpha males are the most territorial and possessive of our species.”
He wasn’t kidding. Alpha males allowed nothing to get between them and what they considered theirs. I stroked my hand over the smooth skin of Havana’s back. “Nathan won’t accept us, beautiful.” He won’t accept me.
Havana leaned back so she could look into my eyes. “Then I won’t accept him.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What?”
Gabe froze. “What are you saying?”
Havana twisted around to look at him. “I’m saying that I choose you over him. All three of you.” She looked over at Doc. “I claimed Nathan to save his life, that’s it. I have no interest in being with him. I belong with you.” Pressing herself against me, she reached out her arms.
Doc took her right hand.
Although Gabe looked skeptical, he took her left hand.
Havana pulled the males so close we were all touching. “We belong together and nothing is—”
A feeling of overwhelming panic flooded my senses.
Havana’s confused gaze swung across our faces. “What’s that?”
Next to me, Gabe tensed. “It’s him.”
“Nathan must be worried about you,” added Doc. Now that we were all bonded, Doc, like me, could sense Nathan’s emotions.
Havana closed her eyes as if concentrating hard. “Damn. I can read his thoughts. He’s freaking out thinking zombies got me.” Havana dropped Doc’s and Gabe’s hands and stepped away from me. “I-I need to go back to the ski lodge and… explain things.” She looked down at her naked body. “Crap. I need to find some clothes. I can’t see Nathan like this.”
“No, you can’t,” Gabe agreed.
Doc and I nodded. None of us liked the idea of him seeing her undressed.
She padded over to a pile of clothes on the ground and grabbed the shirt I’d loaned her. “I can’t wear this either.”
“Why not?” I enjoyed seeing her in my shirts. She looked sexy as fuck in them and it would send a clear message to the Alpha that she already had mates. Not that her smelling of chlorine and sex wouldn’t do the same.
Havana whirled around to face me. “I smell like sex?”
“Uh, um, a little,” I stammered. It always threw me when she read my mind like that. Normally, Lykos could keep their thoughts blocked from others if they wanted, but I was having a harder and harder time keeping Havana out of my head. Not that I wanted to. There was nothing I would keep from my mate.
“Not in a bad way,” Doc added, trying to be helpful.
Gabe bared his teeth in his version of a smile. “You smell like you’ve been well fucked, princess.”
Havana sniffed herself. “Crap! I do.” She ran to the Jacuzzi and stepped in. Seconds later she was splashing water on herself and yelling, “Find me something to wear.”
Gabe’s expression darkened as she washed away all evidence of their encounter.
“Do you want me to check the hotel rooms to see if I can find something for you?” I’d kick down every damn door and ransack every room if it would please her.
“There’s no time. Nathan is starting to lose his shit.” Havana shut her eyes. By the way her brow furrowed I could tell she was concentrating hard. She snapped her eyes open. “I told Nathan not to worry, but he wants to see me right now.”
“Of course he does,” muttered Gabe under his breath.
“Could you wear this?” Doc pointed at a white terry cloth robe lying over one of the lounge chairs.
“That will work.” Havana jumped out of the Jacuzzi, grabbed the robe, and pulled it on. “My hair must look ridiculous.” She tried finger-combing her wet tangled locks. “God, what I wouldn’t give for a hairbrush, a blow-dryer, and some product.” Through our bond I sensed her agitation and a chaotic mix of emotions I couldn’t quite pin down.
I’d never seen her flustered like this. Not even when the human ski instructor had stumbled on us mating in the cabin. I didn’t know how to ease her stress, but I could at least help her with her hair. I pulled out the black comb I always kept in my back pocket and presented it to her. “Will this help?”
Her wide smile made me puff my chest out in pride. “Thank you, yes!” She immediately began raking it through her thick locks. “Ouch!”
“Not like that!” I took the comb back, stepped behind her, and gently ran it through her hair.
“Thank you, big guy,” she said, leaning back against my chest.
Pleasure rippled through me. My sole purpose in life was keeping her safe and making her happy, if that meant combing her hair every day then so be it.
Gabe watched me detangle Havana’s mane with a scowl. “Why do you care what Nathan thinks of your appearance?”
“Because the son of a bitch broke up with her,” answered Doc, digging something out from under another lounge chair. “No one wants to confront their ex looking like rubbish.” He lifted his head and looked at Havana. “Not that you could ever look like anything less than the goddess you are.”
She blew him a kiss. “Thanks, hon. What are you doing under there?”
“Retrieving these.” He held up a pair of purple flip-flops.
Havana let out a squeal. “Those are perfect!”
“Let’s try them on, Cinderella.” Doc strode over, knelt down, and helped slide her feet into them. He frowned. “They’re too small.”
“Not enough that it matters.” Havana leaned down and kissed him on the top of his head.
A stab of jealousy pierced me. I wanted her to kiss me too.
Reading my mind, Havana turned, rose on her toes, and gave me a quick peck on my mouth.
I tried to deepen the kiss, but she pulled away with an apologetic smile.
“I need to deal with Nathan, sweetie.”
I let out a sigh. “Yeah. I know.” An irrational part of me hoped that if we ignored the Alpha, he’d go away.
The alarm bordering on hysteria pulsing through Nathan’s bond told me that would not happen.
“We’ll all go with you,” Gabe announced, grabbing his mostly shredded jeans from the ground and yanking them on.
I nodded at him. “Good idea. Maybe seeing the three of us with Havana will scare Nathan off.”
Gabe bared his teeth in a snarl. “She’s ours.”
Doc shook his head slowly. “I think it’s better if Havana sees him privately.”
Havana nodded. “I agree.”
The fuck!
“No!” Gabe and I shouted at the sa
me time.
Gabe stalked over to her. “There is no fucking way I’m letting you meet with him alone.”
Refusing to be intimidated, Havana stared up at Gabe with her hands on her hips. “Let me? You can’t be serious, Gabriel. No one tells me what to do, least of all the guy whose ass I just pulled out of a burning helicopter a few hours ago.”
Gabe looked as if she’d just kneed him in the balls. As the Head Enforcer of Winterhaven, he’d been one of the most powerful Lykos in the faction for over a decade. No one, other than Tasha and Nathan, had ever put him in his place before.
I felt both sympathy for my friend’s bruised ego and an even greater respect for Havana who was proving herself a powerful ruler in her own right. I cleared my throat. “I think Gabe’s just concerned Nathan may use compulsion on you.”
Havana’s expression softened and some of her anger faded. “He won’t.”
“You don’t know that.” Gabe said, scrubbing a hand across the stubble on his chin. “He’s one of the strongest Alpha males in the world. He’s already compelled us—” he pointed at Doc and me. “What’s stopping him from making you love him?”
Fuck. I hadn’t considered that. To compel another Lykos to favor you was one of the basest acts possible. Even Tasha with her amoral behavior and psychopathic tendencies had outlawed it at Winterhaven. But we weren’t at Winterhaven. None of the old rules applied.
Havana shook her head. “Nathan wouldn’t do that, and even if he tried, he isn’t able to use compulsion on me.”
“But you don’t know that for cer—”
Havana held up her hand to interrupt Gabe. “I do know this for certain because you said only a more powerful Lykos can compel another Lykos, and since I can turn into the monster werewolf, I’m more powerful than everyone.”
“You’re not more powerful than the Originals,” Gabe corrected.
Tasha’s menacing smile popped in my head. I shuddered. Fuck Nathan. Tasha is the real threat to all of us.
Havana waved her hand looking less than impressed. “Whatever. I’m not worried about them and I’m not worried about Nathan trying to mess with my head. I promise if he tries anything I’ll just compel him to walk back to Saguaro Valley.”
